U.S. State Politics

Here Are a Couple of Common-Sense Pieces of Legislation the Texas Electricity Lobby Killed

Electricity issues may not get as much ink as abortion-ban legislation here in Texas, but there were a few bills filed this session -- more like kale than red meat -- that sure as heck would have had a bigger impact on your pocketbook. They were common-sense and pro-consumer protections and, obvious ... More >>

All Those Anti-Abortion Bills that Failed Resurface in Legislature's Special Session

This session in the Texas Legislature was sort of stupid, but then again, they usually are. Although they did manage to pass a budget, their main piece of business each session, your esteemed lawmakers also spent time approving such vital pieces of legislation as the "Merry Christmas Bill" . They al ... More >>

Dallas High School Students Could Graduate in Three Years Under Proposed Plan

For some Dallas ISD students, the senior year of high school is immensely valuable. There are mountains of college credits that can be accumulated free of charged through AP, IB, and dual-credit courses, and the mechanically inclined can enroll in vocational programs like Skyline's aeronautics clust ... More >>

Greg Abbott's Domestic Partner Benefits Ruling Greeted With a Shrug

At first glance -- and second, and third -- Attorney General Greg Abbott's opinion on Monday that cities, counties, and school districts are barred by the Texas Constitution from offering health benefits to the domestic partners of employees would seem to be a stumbling block on the road toward equa ... More >>

Attorney General Greg Abbott Rules that Domestic Partner Benefits are Barred by Texas Constitution

Voters didn't mince words in 2005, when they added Article I, Section 32 to the Texas Constitution. "Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman," it says. "This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical ... More >>

Southlake Legislator Wants Texas to Have its Own Fort Knox, Just in Case of a Global Collapse

The United States Bullion Depository was, according to Wikipedia, an unintended byproduct of a 1933 executive order banning the private ownership of large quantities of gold. Those who didn't move their gold to Switzerland sold it to the Federal Reserve, which found that it didn't really have any pl ... More >>

Legislature Once Again Considering Taking Cyclist Protections Statewide

The city of Dallas is still figuring out how best to alert the driving public that bicycles are vehicles, too, and that they cannot, per new city ordinance, be run off the road or targeted with flung projectiles. While that's happening, the state legislature will be considering whether to write simi ... More >>

State Senator Wendy Davis Wants To Bring Federal Fair Pay Laws for Women To Texas

There was an interesting, widely under-reported battle going on in the state legislature this morning, and it hinged around consistently badass Fort Worth state Senator Wendy Davis. Back in January, Davis filed SB 248, a bill that would bring the Lilly Ledbetter Act to Texas. The Lily Ledbetter Fair ... More >>

Douglas Feldman, Sentenced To Die for Plano Road-Rage Murders, Would Like Some LSD

As the story goes, Douglas Feldman was out in Plano for a night ride on his Harley in 1998 when a big rig piloted by Robert Everett blew past him and cut into his lane, missing him by inches. Feldman pulled his 9mm and put a few holes into the back of the trailer. Then he gunned the bike up alongsid ... More >>

Texas AG Announces "Choose Life Advisory Committee" to Distribute Money Raised by Those Anti-Abortion License Plates

In May of 2011, in the midst of various other anti-abortion measures, Texas lawmakers approved SB 257, authored by Representative Larry Phillips, a Republican from Sherman, and Senator John Carona, a Republican from Dallas. The bill allowed for the sale of state-issued specialty "Choose Life" licens ... More >>

Lawmakers Are Taking the Battle Over Texas' Water Supply to Your Front Lawn

Water -- or the lack thereof -- has already made it to the top of the state Legislature's priority list, and it's an area of rare bipartisan agreement. After all, it doesn't take a hydrological engineer to figure out that growing population plus soon-to-be-maxed-out water sources plus historic droug ... More >>

After She Was Booted from the Education Committee, State Senator Wendy Davis' Supporters Petition for Her Reinstatement

On Friday, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst handed out his picks for the State Senate committees; from those assignments, we learned that "Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security" is, for some mystifying reason, lumped together into one body. And in a move that's drawn a ton of attention ... More >>

Texas' War on behalf of the Incandescent Light Bulb Dies a Quiet, Predictable Death

In 2011, state lawmakers took a break from slashing school funding, dreaming up new abortion restrictions and fighting against the encroachment of Islamic law to do battle with a new enemy: the compact fluorescent light bulb. More and more, those tightly coiled tubes were replacing Edison's good ol ... More >>

In Never-Ending Battle Between Texas and Planned Parenthood, Judge Says PP Can Be Blocked From New Women's Health Program

For those of you who have been following the ongoing, never-ending, multi-court battle of Texas vs. Planned Parenthood, we'll make this quick: Planned Parenthood is out of the Texas Women's Health Program. Again. For now. Now, let's all heave a huge collective sigh and revisit the longer version ... More >>

Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson Said There Should Be More Guns in Elementary Schools, Which Are a "Target-Rich Environment"

In the wake of the massacre of 27 people, 20 of them children, at a Connecticut elementary school today, Texas officials behaved with remarkable decorum. Attorney General Greg Abbott, a noted gun lover, sent a muted press release urging parents and students to be vigilant about school safety. And G ... More >>

Rick Perry Supports "Fetal Pain" Measure, Vows to Make Abortion a "Thing of the Past"

Perhaps you were hoping that the upcoming legislative session wouldn't be yet another round of conservative lawmakers vying with one another to show just how deeply and sincerely anti-abortion they are. Or maybe that's exactly what you look for in a lawmaker: an eagle eye and a vise grip on every Te ... More >>

As the National GOP Leaps into the 20th Century, Ted Cruz and His Texas Pals Cling to the 19th

Last Thursday, New York Times conservative columnist David Brooks said Republicans, smarting from Mitt Romney's defeat, have learned their lesson and are undergoing what Brooks described as a "glasnost," a term defined by Merriam-Webster as, "a Soviet policy permitting open discussion of political a ... More >>

Rick Perry and State Senator Jane Nelson Want Texas to Drug Test Welfare Recipients

It's the most wonderful time of the year: There's still some very stale, deeply discounted Halloween candy kicking around the aisles at CVS, Christmas music has suddenly overtaken your dentist's office, and Texas legislators have begun pre-filing bills for the upcoming legislative session. The ses ... More >>

Dallas Senator John Carona Declares Support for Gay Rights, Gets Pilloried By GOP

If you were to put money on which Republican politician in Texas would publicly express support for gay rights, John Carona, the state senator from Dallas, would be a good bet. He's always been about as pragmatic as Texas Republican come. But it was still a surprise when, earlier this week, he told ... More >>

Five Years After Horse Slaughter Ends in Texas, Legislature Mulls Making it Legal

The fight to close down Dallas Crown, the infamous horse slaughterhouse in Kaufman, was a knock-down drag-out type of thing. Residents and city officials, tired of the stench and the horse blood that known to overwhelm the sewer system and back up into bath tubs, began fighting to have the Belgian-o ... More >>

Now Texas Wants its Women's Health Program to Ban Doctors from Talking about Abortion

As Governor Rick Perry vows not to take any of that filthy federal money to expand Medicaid in Texas, state lawmakers may also have to find another $39 million next year to keep the Medicaid Women's Health Program alive. These days, the WHP has been going through some prolonged death throes. Texa ... More >>

Dewhurst Challenges Cruz to Spanish Debate. Como Se Dice "Go Back to Mexico"?

Republican candidates in Texas are historically bad at courting Hispanic voters, so it's no wonder senate candidate Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst welcomes a novel approach: a debate in Spanish with his run-off challenger, the Tea Party sweetheart Ted Cruz. We hope this happens. We hope it hap ... More >>

Harold Simmons' Radioactive Waste Dump Gets the Go-Ahead from State Regulators

A radioactive waste disposal company owned by Harold Simmons' Dallas-based Contran Corp. has been given the green light by state regulators to dispose of low-grade radioactive waste at a West Texas site. Representative Lon Burnam, who says he possesses confidential documentation exposing an undercu ... More >>

Federal Medicaid Agency Lays Out Just How The Women's Health Program Will End

What prompted Governor Rick Perry's frenzied bout of outraged tweeting about the Women's Health Program yesterday? As much as we'd like to speculate that it was a bad batch of PCP (and will continue to do so privately, purely for our own amusement, not because it's at all true), it was actually one ... More >>

Texas Alliance For Life Executive Director Not Sure Why No One Is "Cheering For Rick Perry"

Pro-life groups in Texas are in an awkward position these days, as the Medicaid Women's Health Program fights for its life. On one hand, they celebrate anything that they perceive as a blow to Planned Parenthood (which Catholic Pro-Life Committee of North Texas Executive Director Karen Garnett once ... More >>

Feds: Voter ID Law "Legally Unenforceable," Can't Rule Out "Discriminatory Purpose"

State legislation requiring voters to present state-issued identification such as a driver's license, a concealed-carry permit, or a U.S. passport or military ID was rejected Monday morning by the U.S. Department of Justice. "Because we conclude that the state has failed to meet its burden of dem ... More >>

Beating Up Babes in Toyland

Perry and Tea Party make a blue Christmas for needy kids.

Merry Effing Christmas to Rick Perry and the Tea Party -- From the Kids

​I'm having particular trouble this year with Toys for Tots. Put it on me for being a grinch. But, look. I see this big smarmy hoopla on the TV news every night with the weatherman and a bunch of shiny-eyed volunteers in North Face parkas handing out useless plastic Big Box crap for the poor ... More >>

More Tarnish for the "Texas Miracle"

New report finds the Lone Star swimming in deep debt.

So, Wait, Rick Perry May Not Speak at The Response? Well, That Seems a Bit ... Odd.

​That's what CNN's reporting, anyhow -- that Rick Perry, who called for that ''day of prayer and fasting" down in Houston on August 6 and has been the face of the franchise, could wind up on the sidelines during The Response at Reliant Stadium. That's according to Eric Bearse, spokesman for the Am ... More >>

When's Perry Gonna Decide? Dunno.

Office of the GovernorRick Perry, Stephen Broden, Sarah Palin and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott at the Majestic last fall​Gov. Rick Perry will be in Denton this week, according to his office, at which time he certainly will not address if and when he's going to announce whether he's running f ... More >>

State GOP Legislators' Revenge Won't Be on Democrats, But on the Old, Poor and Sick

​People all over America should watch the special session of the Texas Legislature, just now beginning, if they want to see what Republicans are really up to. Among other things, they're out to kill Medicare and Medicaid. The regular session was stymied at the last minute when Democratic sta ... More >>

Months After Hanschen Was Chased Off Bench, New Child Support Law Says: He Was Right

Mark GrahamJudge David Hanschen's controversial child support rulings are vindicated by new state law. ​The state Legislature addressed Texas's baby-mama drama this session when, on May 12, Governor Rick Perry signed a bill that immediately relieves men determined not to be the biological father o ... More >>

SMU's Turner, Gov. Rick Perry Send Their Condolences Upon Passing of Bill Clements

​Among the hodgepodge of videos to which we linked only yesterday are a handful of particular note today, as Texans mourn the death of Bill Clements -- the 94-year-old Dallas native, two-time Texas governor, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense under Nixon and Ford and chair of SMU's board of governor ... More >>

Governor Rick Perry Plays Swords With Forever The Sickest Kids?

Governor Rick Perry with Forever The Sickest Kids' Jonathan Cook and Austin Bello.​I guess Rick Perry isn't just pro-gun; turns out he's also pro-sword. Or so we can glean from the above photo, which also indicates that he might be pro-mall-punk, too. Yes, that's Jonathan Cook and Austin Bello of ... More >>

Toxic Avenger: In the War Between the Feds and Texas, EPA Chief Al Armendariz has Science on His Side. Is That Enough?

Carol Reed Dodges Tom Leppert's DOMA Tweet, Predicts Runoff Between Leppert and David Dewhurst and Defends John Wiley Price

Photos by Sam MertenCarol Reed​Political consultant Carol Reed answered questions about the battle for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Dallas mayor's race, the 2012 Republican presidential primary and an assortment of local and state issues last night at a meet ... More >>

Concealed Guns on Campus a Fait Accompli?

Before Mayoral Candidates Make Issue Out of Political Affiliations, a Look at Who's What

During the 2007 mayoral campaign, former city council member Ed Oakley sent out mailers depicting himself and convicted felon Don Hill as Democrats and Tom Leppert and former Mayor Pro Tem Max Wells as Republicans. Oakley also accepted the endorsement of the Dallas County Democratic Party and printe ... More >>

News & Notes: Jenkins Surgery Update, Who Sent Sherbet's Stuff Home and Former Cowboys QB Poised to Swap Senate Teams

Photo by Sam MertenClay Jenkins​What a Week For the New County Judge Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has been pummeled in the media and political circles for playing Scottie Pippen to Commissioner John Wiley Price's Michael Jordan in the game to push out Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet ... More >>

What Do Rick Perry and Nigerian E-Mail Scammers Have in Common? You.

​You know what the pigeon drop is, right? Some scam artist convinces an old lady she can get $10,000 for free by withdrawing a mere $1,000 from her bank account. All she has to do is allow the scam artist to hold her thousand dollars for half an hour. I don't have to tell you how it ends. So ... More >>

Mass deportation, strict border enforcement, amnesty. What will comprehensive immigration reform look like if the feds take action--or if they don't?

Smokestack Lightning: Since Texas Won't Regulate Emissions, E.P.A. Will Handle Permits

Sam MertenWhat Gov. Rick Perry thinks of the Environmental Protection Agency​Surely you're aware of the ongoing battle between the Environmental Protection Agency and Governor Rick Perry over the state's enforcement (cough) of the Clean Air Act. Long story short: The governor says the feds don't h ... More >>

Perry's "Feelin' Pretty Good About the Wind at Our Back" and Takin' Some Credit For the Arts District as Mayor Tom Blows Him Kisses

Photos by Sam MertenWhile Leppert gives the appropriate courtesy laugh to Susan Combs, Perry has his eyes on other, um, things.​It's not often when we get to watch Mayor Tom Leppert play Robin to anyone's Batman, but that's exactly what happened when he introduced and subsequently endorsed Gov ... More >>

A Bike Trip Through Vermont Makes Buzz Realize There's A Whole Lot Of Democracy Going On-- In Places Other Than Texas

"The State of Texas Is Strong," Says Gov. Perry, Just Before Getting Mayor Tom's Thumbs-Up

Photos by Sam Merten​Governor Rick Perry recycled his campaign stump speech and sold it as his State of the State Address to the crowd gathered at the Hyatt Regency this afternoon, as Perry bragged about the economy and railed against Washington for failing to secure the Texas-Mexico border. ... More >>

Get Out!: Arizona and America Join Joe Arpaio in Rushing to Inquire: Are Your Papers in Order?

Talk About Truth

Dubya, We Knew You When...

With a homeboy headed for the White House, a handful of his Dallas pals have hopes of making their mark on Washington